Parker's Second Reader eBook

8. “Rollo,” said he, “you have
failed to-day. You have not been very idle, but
have not been industrious; and the punishment which
I have concluded to try first is, to give you only
bread and water for dinner.”

9. So, when dinner-time came, and the family
sat down to the good beef-steak and apple-pie which
was upon the table, Rollo knew that he was not to
come. He felt very unhappy, but he did not cry.

10. His father called him, and cut off a good
slice of bread, and put into his hands, and told him
he might go and eat it on the steps of the back door.
“If you should be thirsty,” he added, “you
may ask Mary to give you some water.”

11. Rollo took the bread, and went out, and took
his solitary seat on the stone step leading into the
back yard; and, in spite of all his efforts to prevent
it, the tears would come into his eyes.

12. He thought of his guilt in disobeying his
father, and he felt unhappy to think that his father
and mother were seated together at their pleasant
table, and that he could not come, because he had been
an undutiful son. He determined that he would
never be unfaithful in his work again.

13. He went on, after this, several days, very
well. His father gave him various kinds of work
to do, and he began, at last, to find a considerable
degree of satisfaction in doing it.

14. He found, particularly, that he enjoyed himself
a great deal more after his work than before; and,
whenever he saw what he had done, it gave him pleasure.

15. After he had picked up the loose stones before
the house, for instance, he drove his hoop about there
with unusual satisfaction; enjoying the neat and tidy
appearance of the road much more than he would have
done, if Jonas had cleared it. In fact, in the
course of a month, Rollo became quite a faithful and
efficient little workman.

[Illustration]

LESSON LVIII.

The Comma.

THE COMMA is a mark like this =,=

When you come to a comma in reading, you must generally
make a short pause. Sometimes you must use the
falling inflection of the voice, when you come to
a comma; and sometimes you must keep your voice suspended,
as if some one had stopped you before you had read
all that you intended. The general rule, when
you come to a comma, is, to stop just long enough
to count one.

EXAMPLES.

Diligence, industry, and proper improvement of time,
are material duties of the young.

He is generous, just, charitable, and humane.

By wisdom, by art, by the united strength of a civil
community, men have been enabled to subdue the whole
race of lions, bears, and serpents.

[Sometimes a comma must
be read like a question.]

Do you pretend to sit as high in school as Anthony?
Did you read as correctly, articulate as distinctly,
speak as loudly, or behave as well, as he?